Getting to Your Cruise With FF Miles in 2009 Will Cost You!

[jhannah]

If you purchase an upgrade on some airlines, at least. Efffective March 1, American will charge $150 plus 15,000 miles each way for most domestic fares and up to $600 plus miles for foreign destinations. Effective July 1, United is adding co-pays to all frequent flyer ticket upgrades. Previously, it was just pay 5,000-15,000 miles each way from an economy class ticket; now it’s miles plus $50 from most fares within the continental US; up to $500 round-trip for foreign destinations. You can read more on Airfare Watchdog.

 

The question I'd like to ask you is this: As terms and conditions change and fees are added, will accrual and use of frequent flyer miles continue to be an attractive deal for you?

[jasmith52]

A couple of Points...

 

The co-pay of $150 on American Airlines is for an economy to Business class UPGRADE not for the economy class tickets themselves as your headline implies. In theory you can still use your FF miles for economy class tickets.

 

I agree with you though in that FF miles keep fliers loyal. If they take away the carrot (or some of the carrots) then there will be much less incentive to fly on that airline. They have already given us the stick in that flying just gets worse every year. How much more can they torture us and keep us loyal ?

[NevadaHiRoller]

It will be cheaper for me just to pay for the ticket than that. What's next? I'll change my credit card then.

[NevadaHiRoller]

Alaska already charges me $75 a year just to have their card. They already upped their redemption amount, and if they make me pay more on top of that, I'm cancelling them.

[GmaPajama]

I understood your question, Jim, because we only use our miles for upgrades. We fly AA and accumulate enough miles on our Credit Cards to almost always cover the upgrade.

 

We did pay $50, per person, each way ($200 total) to do that for our flights next March - but if the fees are going to triple to $150 ($600 total) we'll have to rethink that and fly coach. Not the end of the world, for sure, but it's just like those S Suites - hard to go back.

[MadManOfBethesda]

The way to circumvent the fee is to just use your FF miles to purchase the business class ticket directly. That's what I've always done anyway.

[Typhoon1]

It is certainly not as easy as it used to be to book a trip using FF miles.

[RevNeal]

The way to circumvent the fee is to just use your FF miles to purchase the business class ticket directly. That's what I've always done anyway.

 

True ... IF one has enough miles. That's not always the case.

[RevNeal]

I suppose the question becomes how one saves money. If one has the FF miles, and buying Economy then upgrading to Business Class for fee+miles saves one money, then that is probably still the best way to go. This was what I faced this year in my flights to South America and Europe. I was able to upgrade using miles + fee and, thereby, got a Business class seat and service for far less than the business class price (even figuring in the fee). If I remember correctly, at the time I calculated it at about 50%. That's not bad.

 

In 2009 I'll be buying tickets to Rome for my TA on the Rotterdam in October/November. I'll have enough miles to get business class outright, so I think that's what I'll do.

[GmaPajama]

The way to circumvent the fee is to just use your FF miles to purchase the business class ticket directly. That's what I've always done anyway.

Let's see ... 2 trips a year for 2 people. That's 4 round trips at 50,000 miles each, or 200,000 miles.

Nope, I couldn't pay my credit card if I used it THAT much. :)

[bigwally]

I suppose the question becomes how one saves money. If one has the FF miles, and buying Economy then upgrading to Business Class for fee+miles saves one money, then that is probably still the best way to go. This was what I faced this year in my flights to South America and Europe. I was able to upgrade using miles + fee and, thereby, got a Business class seat and service for far less than the business class price (even figuring in the fee). If I remember correctly, at the time I calculated it at about 50%. That's not bad.

 

British Airways does this too. You can buy any World Traveler Plus (enhanced economy) ticket, which generally run around $1600 (though I have seen them as cheap as $800 in the past), then use 25,000 miles to upgrade to a business class seat that would cost you something in the region of $5-$10,000 depending on the time of year.

[HWH]

Flying, for me anyway, has always been a means to an end. Today more than ever it is simply something to endure, not to enjoy, no matter what cabin one is seated in. I've never considered spending either $ or miles on anything other than economy class. Last time I flew, the folks in first class sat on the tarmac for the same 90 minutes that I did ten rows further back.

I exhausted my supply of AAdvantage miles last year and no longer seek to use the credit card that provides them--I use other cards with more meaningful (to me) rewards. There are already too many restrictions on when and how one can use the miles.

[jhannah]

I exhausted my supply of AAdvantage miles ... and no longer seek to use the credit card that provides them--I use other cards with more meaningful (to me) rewards.

Me, too. I closed that card out.

[Twickenham]

There was a time that Aeroplan points gave you a free ticket outright. That time also fell during the years where my father travelled for work, and put a lot of expenses on his points-accumulating credit cards. We went to London every 2 years, gratis.

 

Then they started charging for taxes & fees. Which, in principle, is fine, but the fees kept going up and up (including the dreaded fuel surcharge), so much so that last time mom and I tried to book tickets to London, it was going to cost us $300 per ticket!

 

Now, my father no longer travels for work, and so we've been strategically using his remaining points, seeing where it saves us the most. Thus, we used them for 3 'free' tickets to FLL for our upcoming cruise, because the $200+ in fees was considerably less than what we could have purchased from our home airport (YQB) to Florida at that time of year (they were running at about $800 when I checked at that time), and using only 25 000 points. But we purchased tickets to London last spring, as they only cost $600 on Delta and a FF ticket would have been 60 000 points.

 

And to answer your question: I'm actively looking at the best hotel rewards CC to obtain, and will favour those types of rewards in the future. Aeroplan has served me well, but as is the case for much else, it isn't the same as it used to be.

[RevNeal]

Flying, for me anyway, has always been a means to an end. Today more than ever it is simply something to endure, not to enjoy, no matter what cabin one is seated in. I've never considered spending either $ or miles on anything other than economy class. Last time I flew, the folks in first class sat on the tarmac for the same 90 minutes that I did ten rows further back.

I exhausted my supply of AAdvantage miles last year and no longer seek to use the credit card that provides them--I use other cards with more meaningful (to me) rewards.

 

I understand what you're saying, and you are correct in that those in First class sit on the tarmac for the same 90 minutes as those in Coach; however, they do so in a seat that isn't so uncomfortable that it contravenes the Geneva Conventions. :)

 

I fly a lot in connection with my ministry; every month, sometimes more than once a month, I'm flying somewhere to lead a retreat, teach a seminar, speak in a Lecture series, preach a revival, or attend a denominational Board/Agency meeting. I also fly a couple of times a year to get to and from a cruise. Between my business travel and my vacation travel I usually pile up 30k+ miles a year anyway, meaning that I am an AAdvantage Gold member with access to the exit row seats, the cheap upgrades to First, and the exemption from charges for checked luggage. If I didn't fly as much as I do anyway, the miles wouldn't be as useful to me, but since I already do fly enough to access the Elite ranks, the miles actually have meaning. This isn't the case for everybody, however, and I understand that.

[jhannah]

I'm actively looking at the best hotel rewards CC to obtain, and will favour those types of rewards in the future.

Check out the AMEX Hilton HHonors card. Points good at the entire Hilton family of hotels. No blackout dates.

[kalliekae]

The question I'd like to ask you is this: As terms and conditions change and fees are added, will accrual and use of frequent flyer miles continue to be an attractive deal for you?

 

This change is not good, IMO. Dh travels extensively so we have been fortunate to accumulate many FF miles which we enjoy using. However, our grown kids have the FF mile credit cards and they are seriously considering switching to a cash back bonus card which would be more conducive to their lifestyles. There are too many black-out periods associated with many FF miles, too.

[c-cruise]

Alaska already charges me $75 a year just to have their card. They already upped their redemption amount, and if they make me pay more on top of that, I'm cancelling them.

 

The Alaska card is still a great deal for us because of the yearly $50 companion fare. Even if you add in the annual fee you are getting a round tip ticket for $125 which is pretty hard to beat. If they were to get rid of the companion fare benefit then there would be little reason to keep the card. Also, I believe the annual fee goes to Bank of America and not to Alaska.

[kryos]

True ... IF one has enough miles. That's not always the case.

 

I guess most of the people affected by this are the ones who travel a lot, some for business, and can really accumulate these FF miles. Not in my case, though. I generally pay for my tickets in cold, hard cash, and only hope that I can get a decent deal on them.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RevNeal]

I guess most of the people affected by this are the ones who travel a lot, some for business, and can really accumulate these FF miles. Not in my case, though. I generally pay for my tickets in cold, hard cash, and only hope that I can get a decent deal on them.

 

:)

 

I normally pay "cold, hard cash" for my tickets, too. I use miles for upgrades, and now I have to pay extra "cold, hard cash" along with those miles for those upgrades. I'm not really complaining about it ... with the miles and some extra dollars I can get into First or Business class for a price FAR below the list-rate if one were booking First or Business outright. While not as important for a two or three hour flight from Dallas to either coast, it becomes exceedingly important for those longer international flights where, as I've said, the average coach seat can be come so uncomfortable that it contravenes the "no torture" provisions of the Geneva Conventions. :)

 

In researching for my flight to Rome next October I've discovered that the "deep-discount-economy" prices are about what I expected (~$1400 - $1500). To get into business for the flight to London, then on to Rome, it's going to cost me 25,000 miles + an additional $350. That brings the cost up to about $1750 or so. That's still only about 1/3 the cost I would be paying if I were to buy my Business class seat outright. To me, that's a no-brainer.

 

As for this affecting only those who travel for business ... well, not entirely. I made two international trips this year: to and from South America and to and from Europe. Both flights were for cruises. From those flights I piled up 20,000 miles, which (when added to the 26,500 miles I piled up in other flights this year) nearly got me to AAdvantage Platinum status (I'm going to be about 3500 miles short). That's a first for me. However, my point is that the miles from just those international flights, plus the bonus miles I earned on them as an AAdvantage Gold member, plus the miles I added from my credit card purchases this year, more than adds up to be enough to cover what I need to upgrade my flight to Rome to business class. In other words, anybody who flies a couple of international flights a year for pleasure is going to have enough miles for an upgrade on a major international flight

(or several upgrades on domestic flights).

[the_dylaness]

The question I'd like to ask you is this: As terms and conditions change and fees are added, will accrual and use of frequent flyer miles continue to be an attractive deal for you?

 

I gave up on my Delta SkyMiles account as soon as I finally managed to use up our last two tickets' worth in 2007. (We really wanted to use the tickets to go on a cruise so we ended up choosing the cruise based on where we could get a round trip set a week apart- none were available in FLA so we went to Galveston.) Too hard to find any tickets!

 

I have a Southwest Rapid Rewards acct with accompanying credit card and I LOVE it! So easy to use, good rewards, it's wonderful.